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SG Ball and Harold Matthews results

TheRev

Coach
Messages
11,645
Not sure of the 3yr breakdown in his contract yet.. I think most of them end in development or train&trial positions, be a big call to promise a Top30 spot, unless you are dead sure.

I wish I could peer into the future and predict which of the young forwards are going to make it.. it seems like all the guys we pull from 'out of catchment' into the dragons squads... have a pathway lined up with a management company.. going to be a lot of competition for spots over the next 1-3yrs.

What's also interesting, is its yet another forward recruit (with so few backs targeted), not that im complaining, but we will have to prioritise some of them along the way and let the others get pinched by other clubs. Not sure if the jr recruitment strategy is by design or by coincidence.
 
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justadragon

Bench
Messages
4,103
Not sure of the 3yr breakdown in his contract yet.. I think most of them end in development or train&trial positions, be a big call to promise a Top30 spot, unless you are dead sure.

I wish I could peer into the future and predict which of the young forwards are going to make it.. it seems like all the guys we pull from 'out of catchment' into the dragons squads... have a pathway lined up with a management company.. going to be a lot of competition for spots over the next 1-3yrs.

What's also interesting, is its yet another forward recruit (with so few backs targeted), not that im complaining, but we will have to prioritise some of them along the way and let the others get pinched by other clubs. Not sure if the jr recruitment strategy is by design or by coincidence.
I think your fav needs to have a big year Rev, he was killing it in SGB but seemed to regress in JF, maybe due to player movements etc, anyway lets see what happens this year, I hope he blasts it.
 

UnknownDragon

Juniors
Messages
40
Not sure of the 3yr breakdown in his contract yet.. I think most of them end in development or train&trial positions, be a big call to promise a Top30 spot, unless you are dead sure.

I wish I could peer into the future and predict which of the young forwards are going to make it.. it seems like all the guys we pull from 'out of catchment' into the dragons squads... have a pathway lined up with a management company.. going to be a lot of competition for spots over the next 1-3yrs.

What's also interesting, is its yet another forward recruit (with so few backs targeted), not that im complaining, but we will have to prioritise some of them along the way and let the others get pinched by other clubs. Not sure if the jr recruitment strategy is by design or by coincidence.
Plenty of backs already at the club.
 

TheRev

Coach
Messages
11,645
Plenty of backs already at the club.
There are a few potentials in Flegg or lower, but I was referring to kids with preset pathways into Dev or Top30 spots, because we have a glut of young props already locked and loaded for the next 1-3yrs... its going to cost us a couple of young backs who we just arent going to be able to lock down.

Hopefully the ones from the Steelers system are more patient.. its a very different process that we go through with them vs the kids we outsource from penrith or qld etc.. they r the ones that we have to promise the world to get them to move down.
 

TheRev

Coach
Messages
11,645
I think your fav needs to have a big year Rev, he was killing it in SGB but seemed to regress in JF, maybe due to player movements etc, anyway lets see what happens this year, I hope he blasts it.
1000% I've been really disappointed by Williams and TPH after their g/f.. I thought they were gonna destroy Flegg.. and they really didnt.. TPH I think got found out with his size in the older grade (maybe he grows in years to come, but it would be a very long haul like Trai Fuller perhaps) and Williams im not sure why he didnt kick on... I thought Buchanan was going to destroy NSW Cup, and he was 'ok'.. LKT looks comfortable in NSW Cup atleast.

All of this is fine, not everyone needs to be an 18-20yr old superstar (they r the exception), its just tricky as I mentioned before, which kids do we want to lock down.. and which are we going to leave open to the vultures.. rly need a bit of a reset for Williams in 2025.. he has the physical attributes to dominate.. just needs the right attitude around it, hopefully its a big pre-season for him. There are also guys like Kirk, Borg, BRumble, Afu, Hammoud floating around (different ages), Saifiti^2 is down now also.. plus the new kids coming into SG Ball for the first time.... I'm not even 80% sure on any of them (Reed the exception)..

It's a huge 2025 season coming to see who keeps developing (i.e. who hasnt hit their ceiling yet)... gonna need to clear the calendar for a few months.
 

justadragon

Bench
Messages
4,103
1000% I've been really disappointed by Williams and TPH after their g/f.. I thought they were gonna destroy Flegg.. and they really didnt.. TPH I think got found out with his size in the older grade (maybe he grows in years to come, but it would be a very long haul like Trai Fuller perhaps) and Williams im not sure why he didnt kick on... I thought Buchanan was going to destroy NSW Cup, and he was 'ok'.. LKT looks comfortable in NSW Cup atleast.

All of this is fine, not everyone needs to be an 18-20yr old superstar (they r the exception), its just tricky as I mentioned before, which kids do we want to lock down.. and which are we going to leave open to the vultures.. rly need a bit of a reset for Williams in 2025.. he has the physical attributes to dominate.. just needs the right attitude around it, hopefully its a big pre-season for him. There are also guys like Kirk, Borg, BRumble, Afu, Hammoud floating around (different ages), Saifiti^2 is down now also.. plus the new kids coming into SG Ball for the first time.... I'm not even 80% sure on any of them (Reed the exception)..

It's a huge 2025 season coming to see who keeps developing (i.e. who hasnt hit their ceiling yet)... gonna need to clear the calendar for a few months.
Yep I was pretty disappointed in the way JF finished the season and went out of contention. I think JW also got injured, anyway we will definitely have to see something out of them this year, Buchanan's size still is a worry to me, but hey time will tell. This is why we can never please anyone about who we keep and who we let go, basically we just dont know enough and cant keep them all. Pasifika Tonga is the one I'm really keen to see kick on.
 

TheRev

Coach
Messages
11,645
They wanted to merge the HM/SG teams a while back didnt they? Think there was backlash.. I find it rly fascinating because it does allow us to potentially double stack junior talent, which in theory would give us an advantage in that we have twice the number of players we get to coach and assess their talent...

Particularly when you consider the number of talent coming out of the gong, but on top of that we get to go out and poach guns like Tonga, Latu, Halangahu etc.. plus I imagine for all the steelers kids its easier to keep them happy living at home for as long as possible..

But the trade-off of course is in theory our HM/SG Ball sides arent as strong, and the 2 sides have to come together at some point.. but hopefully the right coaching can help with that.. that must be a difficult period.

Anyway I find it very interesting.. but also cant deny our Flegg team hasnt been as strong as I thought it would be when the 2 sides combine.
 

justadragon

Bench
Messages
4,103
They wanted to merge the HM/SG teams a while back didnt they? Think there was backlash.. I find it rly fascinating because it does allow us to potentially double stack junior talent, which in theory would give us an advantage in that we have twice the number of players we get to coach and assess their talent...

Particularly when you consider the number of talent coming out of the gong, but on top of that we get to go out and poach guns like Tonga, Latu, Halangahu etc.. plus I imagine for all the steelers kids its easier to keep them happy living at home for as long as possible..

But the trade-off of course is in theory our HM/SG Ball sides arent as strong, and the 2 sides have to come together at some point.. but hopefully the right coaching can help with that.. that must be a difficult period.

Anyway I find it very interesting.. but also cant deny our Flegg team hasnt been as strong as I thought it would be when the 2 sides combine.
Yep, I was surprised to Rev, after the Dragons won SGB and Steelers were up there, they capitulated in JF. Should never have happened, nor letting games go when they had sizeable leads.
 

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